This week on DPReview TV, Chris and Jordan test Sigma's latest macro lens, the 70mm F2.8 DG Macro Art. Find out why they like it in this uniquely Canadian presentation.
I lived in Edmonton for over 2 years and more or less acquired/developed my English proficiency during that time. I never noticed the 'eh' thing. Not until I got to the UK many years later was I told by UK people that I had a US accent (acquired obviously in Alberta, and kept with me living in a non-English speaking country until hitting the UK) and not a Canadian one because I did not say 'eh' at all. To me Chris sounds normal Canadian in his other videos but a bit strange in this one. Shows how much what I thought was my Canadian accent was influenced by US TV programmes probably, or is Edmonton different from Calgary eh?
The "Canadian accent" is honestly more of a played-up-for-laughs nationwide running gag, popularized by "Bob and Doug McKenzie" comedy sketches (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bulMs80W6aQ). It's kinda-sorta based on accents from certain parts of Ontario, cranked up to 11 for comedic effect.
As a general rule, parts of Canada with relatively-recent large population growth like Alberta have accents much more like the stereotypical US accent. But places that were settled well before easy travel and mass TV/radio media came along (like the Maritime provinces or Newfoundland) have a massive variety of vaguely-similar but noticeably different accents. One can travel a thousand kilometres in the prairies and only meet people with the exact same accent. But someone on the east coast can often pinpoint another east coaster's ancestral home county just by hearing them say a single sentence.
I live 20 minutes from the Canadian borders (20 min. from Windsor, Ontario), and I travel frequently to visit part of the family in London, Ont. Never detected a difference in accent except the first time I was in Toronto (before GPS was a common household item). I was downtown Toronto, and I asked someone about the location of a specific building. He pointed towards the direction of the building, and asked me: - Do you see the satellites over there? - No, I don't see any satellites? ... a short pause (he looked puzzled) ... and said - Oh, are you from the States? - Yes - OK, ... (he smiled) then said ...do you see the "traffic lights" over there? Now we both laughed ...
Then I figured that Canadians call them a "set of lights", set'a'lights :-)
But the strongest Canadian accent is not even remotely close to some British and Australian accents!! We have our own, though. Just go down to Tennessee or Alabama or Joawja (Georgia) to find out. All in good humor :-)
The strongest Canadian accent, by far, can be found in the eastern island province of Newfoundland. Nearly impossible for some to comprehend. But strangely, some Shakespearean scholars in England recently discovered that the ancient speech of the villagers of the Bard's hometown would have sounded exactly like the Newfies of today. In other words, (No pun intended) the Newfies are people transplanted from the Oxford region of England, 450 years ago, and still speak with the same pronunciations.
As far as Canadian accents are concerned, Chris is spoofing y'all. Nowadays, most North Americans speak with a modified 'Hollywood' accent including Canadians. The word 'eh?' was widely used in the USA until WWII and it's usage in Canada is in decline.
Interesting. Thanks for the info. I'm thinking that living semi-isolated on an island has helped preserve the 450-years-old accent. But don't these people have TV's? Or do they live the Amish life?
Thank you for an entertaining video! You mentioned the lack of IBIS on the EOS-R as a (possible) issue. It would be interesting to see: Would IBIS really make a difference by using the same lens on the Nikon Z6? How does sharpness on the sigma hold up on a more demanding body like: - a 50MP Canon (no IBIS) - a 47MP Nikon Z7 with IBIS Do you see any difference in the number of keepers with/without IBIS when shooting macro? By the way, I do not see the sigma 70mm F2.8 as particularly lightweigt (527 g - 1.16 lb) compared to the Tamron 90 mm F2.8 (405g / 14.3 oz) - on the contrary. The Tamron comes with built-in vibration reduction, so that would seem like an obvious choice for the EOS-R.
Great video, but inconclusive: lots of people (see comments below) are still unsure whether it has IS. You obviously failed to get the point across. What you should've done was to film Jordan trying to shoot Chris with this 70/2.8 while having the Mother of all hangovers, and getting abstract painting every single time. *That* would be convincing. Also, recording and then playing back some rap ("Great sharpness -- Yes! But still -- no I.S.!") throughout the *whole* video could have helped.
Completely missing is the coverage of how this Sigma works for sports, deep space astronomy, underwater, birding, and especially BIF -- all glaring omissions.
Finally, you failed to investigate if this lens zooms. Yes, Sigma is marketing it as a prime, but so what? They could claim all they want (say, that the lens is "macro"), but who cares, right? Did you twist it hard enough to see if it zooms? No? Then that's bad, bad journalism. We came to expect better from C&J.
They are really good, love you guys! It's amazing how good Sigma is optically these days. In the old days it was the brand manufacturers with the great lenses and the third party lenses were ok. Nowadays more often than not, it's Sigma that beats the optical performance of the major brands.
I always enjoy watching (and listening to, and receiving insights from) Chris and Jordan in their natural habitat. I was hoping for a "walk and talk" scene down the snowy slope (maybe backward), but the fireplace slightly compensated for it not being included.
Oh and this lens doesn't have Image Stabilization, right?
nice lens, and great price, it would be nice if they were available for my camera system. Anyway, there are several other options. I'm not an english native speaker, however do liked the canadian usage not just for the language but because the nature of the video, seemed more like the ones you used to do at TCStv, which were always relaxed, informal, fun and interesting.
What makes you consider this over the Sony versions? Not criticizing, just curious.
This lens is actually longer and the same weight as the 90mm Sony F2.8 G macro, which has the advantages of: -Having additional OIS to help the IBIS -Internal focussing and therefore better weathersealing -Focus scale -Silent autofocus -longer FL and especially workingdistance -Additional programmable function button and IS switch
And there is the Sony 50mm F2.8 macro, which is significantly smaller and a little cheaper, while being a native lens with some benefits like the programmable function button.
@panther fan, consider doesn't mean select. Consider means to look rather than pick. Also, the review talks about how sharp it is and fora macro, sharp is a top consideration.
And, for what it's worth good 5 axis IBIS beat OIS at this focal length, playing into the sharpness narrative.
Why do you equate Canadian to the TPB of things? Maybe Tony Northrop's next review can be inside the General Lee and he can give a "yee haw!" if he approves. 🤠
The original cut was more entertaining. Although it seemed like Jordan sat this one out, in truth they had to cut his musical interlude (a rendition of 'I'm a Lumberjack') as they couldn't clear copyright in time for press: https://youtu.be/FshU58nI0Ts
@Jordan thanks for the links. I stalk you guys all the time, and I had no idea - Perhaps a blog page or ongoing forum thread of 'What the DPReview-Crew are up to' is in order? Gordon's always good value, and the other fellow is new to me, thanks :)
I can't think of anyone else I bother to listen to. I've been doing this for decades and don't really need to, I just find those three enjoyable to listen to.
As a European, I loved the presenter's complete disregrard for imperial units. Most of the world does not understand or want to hear ridiculous archaic imperial units. Incidentally, I weigh 73 kg (that's like 5 7/32 tons ;-)
The 70mm prime is somehow skipped over in photography, which is odd, given the number of classic zoom lenses that begin or end at 70mm. In fact, 70mm is a "natural" focal length for a prime using in the geometric progression of focal lengths (using 50mm as the root):
I loved the original Sigma 70 / 2.8 macro (and have kept it) so I looked forward to the new 70 / 2.8A macro and have been more than happy with it. In fact, I have only two complaints:
1) No stabilization (the video, for whatever reason, failed to mention this ;-) ), 2) It "only" opens up to f/2.8 (since I would use it for more than just macro).
Of course, point 1 would be addressed (for Canon) if the R had IBIS (another point the video didn't address, for some reason ;-) ) and addressing point 2 would have made the lens significantly larger, heavier, and more expensive.
So, what I'd *love* to see from Sigma is a 70 / 1.8A OS. Why not f/1.4? Sigma's amazing Art lenses have been getting crazy huge and heavy, and I can live with f/1.8 in a 70mm prime (just get an 85 / 1.4A if you want more blur and don't care about size and weight). Then again, watch Canon put out a 100 / 2L IS macro for the R mount.
Anyway, kudos to Sigma for a "worthy" successor to the cult-classic original 70 / 2.8 macro. Please give some consideration to my wish for a 70 / 1.8A OS, eh? : )
Stabilisation (or the lack of) was mentioned at least twice??? And yes would love to see a Chris and Jordan series in Australia, particularly here in Tasmania ;)
Irakly - Utterly untrue, no way is it necessary to use a tripod for macro work, unless the light is really atrocious. A great pity however that the lens doesn't have stabilisation. OK for the mirrorless boys (except EOS-R users, if there are any), but an unstabilised lens on a DSLR can be harder to deal with.
Irakly - Well maybe I don't know what I'm talking about Mr Expert, maybe I should rethink 25 years as an industrial photographer and 8 years as a wildlife photographer specialising in macro (insects) and having sold over 2000 macro images in the last 3 years. You don't know quite as much as you think buddy.
Well coming from someone who has sold macro lenses for 14 years and pretended to be a photographer on TV for 9 years, I think I'm more than qualified to state empirically that I think you're both right, and you're both pretty too. I wish I had a tripod because the light was difficult. I wish I had IS to help with my success rate, and I don't like carrying tripods but in this case it would have helped a lot! Time for a hug?
Chris - haha, yes of course there are plenty of times when a tripod is handy, or even a necessity for macro work, but personally I only use a tripod for subjects like landscape and botanical. Most of my macro work is with insects and other very active invertebrates, which necessitates stalking with a hand-held camera, and I always shoot by ambient light - never flash. Now if Canon was to produce a nice image-stabilised 180mm macro, I'd be ready to hug anyone! (well, almost).
Chris, wait a minute, you had the camera on a tripod right after you apologize to the tree, if my memory serves me right :D
I am totally with you on hatred of tripods, as they do severely hamper photographers' free spirit. Macro is an exception. Lighting is usually so intricate that moving the camera 1/4 of an inch in any direction ruins everything.
entoman - pxxxing contest is not necessary, as I am sure, we both have things to share with the world. you shoot insects in the natural environment, i shoot watches in a studio. these things require completely different approaches. saying that something is "utterly untrue" requires ignoring even a possibility of a situation where it can be otherwise. yes, i agree, macro is totally doable handheld, sometimes even without compromising image quality. sometimes with, though... :D
Irakly - Look at the wording of your own posts. You clearly stated that macro "would require a tripod", which is untrue. It only requires a tripod in certain specific situations.
You saw the situation purely from your own perspective, without considering the fact that there are many people who shoot living, moving macro subjects outdoors, almost always hand-held.
So let's just agree that what works best for one photographer in one situation may be entirely impractical and unsuitable for another photographer shooting a different type of macro subject :-)
Foveons are hell-cheap, and perfect for macro if you have the lights. Given the performance and price of the lens, it could be worth buying with an SD1M or SDQ just for this purpose. (Cheaper still with the LS Tiger releasing in a few months.)
No it doesn't. Chris mentioned it in the video that it would be better paired with a camera that has IBIS. PS go to the chapter links below the video - one of them is "Size and stabilisation".
I'm sure the beavers are less of a problem than humans traveling there with SUVs ... or even by plane? Please tell me that you used your bike or public transportation and I may understand why you blame beavers.
Regarding the lens review: How often can one repeat "there is no image stabilization" within 8 minutes? You could have said this once and then used a Sony camera for the review. Sigma typically sells the same lens over many years ... more cameras with IBIS will arrive during the lifetime of this lens for sure ... and then I expect people to blame lenses with stabilitzation compromising image quality.
I would have loved to hear more about the actual features of this lens.
Perhaps for a professional job stabilization is not necessary, but I am an amateur and my way of photographing is very similar to Chris', I just take my camera and go walkaround. In the field, a tripod is useless 70% of the time due to the wind, so taking it, however small it is (like my Gorillapod), is a nuisance. Of course, carrying a windbreaking box is not considered. I repeat, amateur, walkarround ... The stabilizer is key to this type of photography. You will not want to shoot hand held less than 1/400 with this if you are really close, a stabilizer can allow you to do this at 1/150, there is a considerable difference in the amount of light needed to achieve these speeds. I understand, in an environment with controlled lighting and tripod the stabilizer is unnecessary. You have already been told about the characteristics of the lens, sharp, without halos, with vignetting, and be careful with the extension of the barrel when focusing ...
I suppose you're being sarcastic, of course it does not work with wind, but the lens will always be on you, that having a stabilizer does not involve any "extra bulge" in the backpack, the tripod is. And honestly it is not the same to make hand held pictures than with a tripod, for me photography is something more "organic", I simply move with my camera among all that diversity, finding small wonders, placed there for a limited time, destined so that nobody realize of them, small geometric shapes, repetitions, games of lights, games of color ... And I pass from one to another, pecking, like the insects that sometimes I also photograph, and I need to be "agile", without the mechanism of a tripod. For my way of photographing some kind of stabilization is essential, I do not pretend to be right, I do not criticize other ways of photographing, this is simply the way I enjoy the most, and for me to enjoy is the first.
This video is hardly a dissertation on the relative harmful environmental impacts caused by Humans versus the North American Beaver. That being said, there are few animals capable of altering their environment in such a large way as the Beaver, so if we HAD to blame an animal, I guess it would be those pesky Beavers. So to answer your questions, No, we did not ride bicycles but rather a large gas guzzling pickup truck. However we also did not shoot the beaver dead with a firearm, bow, or slingshot. Instead as we clearly stated in the video we were prepared at most, to shoot it with a camera. Yes, I did mention IS quite a bit because its the main characteristic in my opinion that would make or break this lens for a potential buyer, but I could ALWAYS say more words in my reviews. Lastly I diagree, I think I covered a fair amount about this product but I'll take your thoughts under advisement.
I enjoyed the review but I do agree that the lack of stabilization was mentioned as a flaw too much. It is a design characteristic that one can note even without a review. Worth a mention but the repetition dominates the review and undermines the actual finding of excellent image quality. Like there is an equivalence. I check out reviews to learn things I can't just read about in a spec list. And I want to know about image quality which I cannot determine otherwise unless I get the lens. If folks need os, simple enough to hear it once and stop reading.
It would have been even more interesting if Chris did a parallel test of this Sigma macro lens, using the Sigma MC-11 mount adapter on an Sony A-III, which has built-in IBIS. OK eh, Chris?
Chris, don't get me wrong. Normally I'm enjoying your reviews, as they are informative and entertaining at the same time. And I learn a lot about photography. Keep up your great work (and show pictures of happy Canadian beavers the next time you are around there ;-)
I have a Sony A6000 and I seriously thought about buying the E-mount version that would become a great 105mm, but I backed out the main complaint of Chris in the video, the lack of stabilizer, for the price there is no doubt that it is great and the focal distance is great in both Full Frame (Portrait, certain landscapes, street and macro) and APSC (Portrait far, macro with the advantage of getting more gain at the same distance from a scary insect ...). In short, stabilization is the key for me despite wearing a Gorillapod always on top. I'll continue with my 35mm f3.5, it's not stabilized either but it cost me 200 and it's already in the bag ... I hope that the rumored Sony A7000 materializes soon and gives me enough reasons to update my equipment (A6500 does not do it, at the price that it has).
Another negative about this lens, and very important to me, is that it is not compatible with Nikon bodies. So, its lack of os is completely irrelevant in my world. I have been using and loving the original version for years so not having stabilization is no big deal. I would like to see a comparison between the older version, which has a great reputation, and this one. Sigma is supposedly working on a solution to the Nikon incompatibility.
I would be hard-pressed to do so as well and have even considered buying a back up. It needed a repair once and may need the same repair again. There is a slight grinding noise when manually focusing. I am not sure if Sigma will continue to offer repairs for this lens. The glass used in one of its elements is no longer available. Its fragility is surprising considering its robust construction. And, yes, its image quality is excellent.
I also have the original 70mm macro and it is razor sharp. But if you want to be critical and love to pixel peep, it has a bit too much CA. This one doesn't. Also, the camera world is going mirrorless whether we like it or not. Those camera's have IBIS (except for that silly Canon one) and I'd rather have a better, sharper and lighter optic if it means no in built OS. For super long teles where in built OS is advantageous, the good mirrorless cameras will combine IBIS and lens OS to give you 7.5 stops or more of stabilization.
You're absolutely right! We would never use the spruce trees you saw in the video. However "Maple" syrup can really be produced from almost any watery, sugar rich, sap. In fact many versions of syrup are produced from other trees such as the birch for example, although in Canada and most of the USA it can't be labelled Maple syrup unless exclusively coming from a form of Maple tree.
Great video! If you ever come around to test this lens on a Sony body (min 5:43), could you not only compare it to the 90mm F2.8 OIS G macro, but also to the FE 50mm F2.8 macro. This is a native lens, that is not only cheaper than the Sigma, but also much smaller.
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